Today KitGuru can exclusively reveal that, in a stunning move, EVGA has lost its European Marketing Manager to arch rival Asus. Given how successful EVGA has been over the previous 12 months, this is a real surprise. KitGuru analyses the situation to see what it means.

Toward the end of 2009, EVGA had a great mainboard development team, but – as a loyal nVidia partner – was suffering on the sales side with the lack of a DX11 solution.

At the same time, it appeared to be locked in an internal power struggle between CEO Andrew Han and former head of the European operation, Wolfram Tismer. Tismer left and set up a turbo-charging centre for Point of View called TGT.

Against that backdrop, EVGA wanted to boost its brand, to get back into the market and compete once again at the top. While working on a settlement with Tismer, Andrew Han put a new office in place for Europe and recruited key personnel, including a new Head of Marketing for Europe, Miodrag Relic.

OK, those are some big changes, but did it work?

A huge stack of wins for EVGA’s products, alongside the PC Pro award for ‘Best graphics card company 2010’ since Relic took over would seem to indicate that it did.

As they say, all good things must come to an end, so we find ourselves asking “What next for Relic?”

A little birdie has told us that he will now be taking over a similar role for component giant Asus in the UK. Good timing really, given that Asus’ own marketing expert has moved on to AMD.

Looks like Relic weighed the options & decided that the strongest card in his hand was a move to Asus. Can't blame him when Asus is a global top 3 vendor for notebooks and turns over $10 Billion a year

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When asked about the story and why he had really moved, Relic gave KitGuru a smile and the stock response “No comment”.

So what will the likely impacts be of this loss?

Well, for a start, Relic’s kind of experience is not easy to find and it will take some work from EVGA to fill the role as effectively. From what KitGuru remembers, there is rivalry between EVGA and Asus, so Relic’s new role is likely to irk. From nVidia’s point of view, Relic was a solid driving force in promoting a 100% nVidia range – and now he will also be pushing a 50% AMD agenda.

Maybe EVGA's loss could be your gain. If you are a vastly experienced PR and Marketing guru, with in-depth technical knowledge, then maybe you can apply for the vacant role?

KitGuru says: Overall, we have to say that this is a gain for Asus and Relic, a loss for EVGA and a slight downside for nVidia. Having lost its key motherboard design team to Sapphire, it’s probably time for EVGA to revisit the recruitment centre to try and replace some of its losses.